Happy Birthday, Kalyn!

I feel sometimes like my closest friends and I are more like a collection of puzzle pieces that happen to be settled all over... everywhere. From Illinois to Pennsylvania, South Carolina to Michigan, New York, California... seriously.  I love and hate how spread out we are, but that just means we're all pursuing what our hearts are telling us to do, and finding happiness that way. Plus, it just makes the reunions - sporadic as they may be - just that much better.

Today's Kalyn's birthday. This girl's one of those scattered pieces that comprises my core circle. We definitely don't see each other nearly as often as we should, but when it happens, it's like no time has lapsed at all. Happy birthday, lady... love you to the mountain and back, ya weirdo!

happy biiiiirthday! 

And for the sake of nostalgia, some of my other favorite memories that didn't fit into a pre-sized photo collage: 

antics in phoenix, az

the day we wore the same shorts and went the grand canyon

the time we thought the camera was way lower than it was.
there were probably 3 feet of dead space that i cropped off the top of this.. haha

kalyn's mom's wedding.. we sang that time, too.. haha

Kalyn, thanks for being a stone-cold odd bird; if you were any different, I just don't know how we'd swing being friends.. haha. Seriously, love you dear friend, and I am so thankful for all the times you were there and the memories that were made. Cheers to the next year of adventures! 

And cheers to the rest of ya'll - have a beautiful week! 

xo | cmd

Dinsdag!

^ Bet you thought that was some sort of funky proclamation, eh? Nope. Well, look it up, if you must, and you'll be faintly disappointed that I'm really just a little bored. That's my itty bitty tribute to my sister for the day. [If you don't get it, don't worry 'bout it ;).. ]


amelia



Anyhoot, happy birthday, Amelia Earhart! I hopped on Google this morning [I am slave to that thing] and borrowed this little tribute picture for her. I wonder.. just wonder.. if the day will come when the speculation will be forced to stop when someone discovers the proven remains of Miss Earhart and her plane. I'm sure it'll be one of those monumental moments in history that will be ironic in that she's probably nowhere near where we think she is now. Who knows. I'm no expert. :p

Anyway, I wanted to, on a more serious note, share something I found online and felt should be recognized. In the wake of the events from Friday in Colorado, someone compiled this. Just looking at it makes me so sad for the world in which we live, the people left behind to mourn the voids created by this one man, for James Holmes, and for the mass of lost people we so desperately seek to reach.

Without speculating, I can only say that I am at a complete loss of words for the pain, for the weight of missed moments and regret that inevitably weigh on the shoulders of the loved ones left behind - be they justified or not. My prayer for healing, endurance, but above all peace is just one of the millions being lifted up for these families, but it is there, and I mean every ounce of it from the bottom of my heart.

I believe in the sun | even when it's not shining. | I believe in love | even when I don't feel it. | And I believe in God | even when He is silent. || - BarlowGirl

Tragedy or no tragedy, it's never too late or too early to remind ourselves and the ones we love what love means. I have only had friends unfairly taken out of this world at what seemed like a premature time, but I take solace in knowing that it's not our time on which these things function, and within each painful moment there is a reason, a deeper meaning purposed to remind us of our fundamental purpose.

Things to think about.

I'm a bit scattered today. : /

I'll pick this back up tomorrow.

xo | cmd

On the ROAD!

get ready

And we… are… OFF!

Sam and Kalyn stayed at our place last night, and around 9:30 this morning, the three of us loaded up into her jeep and jumped on the highway for their 2^nd day, my first, on the road from Cincinnati to Phoenix.

heading to kansas

We were pretty excited when we hit Kansas City, somehow thinking we were making pretty decent headway. It wasn’t until we hit the meat of Kansas that we quickly realized that it consisted of windmills, and ……………. Nothing else, really.

No, seriously. Kansas is flatter than a pancake, literally. Aside from the windmills, there is not a single intriguing thing to see while driving straight across this state. It took all three of us to conquer the plains of KS before I struck gold on my turn and flew past the Welcome to Colorado sign before we had a chance to celebrate it. [Don’t worry, we stopped at the border of CO & NM to capture the sign!]

colorful colorado!

Once we crossed onto the grounds of CO and in spite of Sam’s urging to find a hotel, Kalyn and I were determined to camp out. We found a KOA in Limon, CO. We checked in and found our little tent plot nestled in the midst of a crowd of RV’s. Fortunately for us, there was a wooden fence no more than 8 feet long and 7 feet high behind which we claimed our spot. Against our better judgment, we unloaded and pitched a tent in 50+mph winds and a dropping temperature of 48 degrees at that point. We found ourselves with clogged tent poles with no other option than to Macgyver the staking and climb inside as quickly as possible to help prevent the whole setup from blowing away.

If you think I’m exaggerating, I promise you, I’m not. It. Was. Cold. We had two blankets, two pillows, and a sleeping bag. Needless to say, it was an interesting night.

tenting in limon, co | bad idea.

Tomorrow is back on the road: Colorado Springs, the Rocky Mountains, and Santa Fe, NM!

Oh, and P.S. – Not to put a damper on the excitement of our journey westward, but today would’ve been Jena Fogle-Blake’s 27^th birthday. You are always missed, but never forgotten, friend. <3

xo | cmd-